Ban motorcycles from highways to save lives - Doctor tells FG

- An ex-secretary general of Nigeria Medical Association said motorcyclists are the reasons for numerous accident cases in the country

- The doctor also advised the public to shun motorcycles and take vehicles instead as a means of transportation

Adewunmi Alayaki, the immediate-past secretary general of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), has called on the federal government to ban commercial cyclists from operating on highways across the country.

Alayaki, who made the call on Thursday, January 31, in a telephone interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Iseyin, Oyo state, said that the menace of commercial cyclists on the highways had become a big worry.

He said: "Just this morning, some persons, involved in a motorcycle accident, were rushed to my hospital with various degrees of injuries on their knees and limbs. Their condition is quite terrifying and frightening.’’

He said that the motorcyclist rode against traffic at top speed with two passengers and collided with an oncoming vehicle on its own lane.

“Unfortunately, the rider did not sustain any serious injury but his passengers will spend months in the hospital,’’ he said.

Alayaki underscored the need to mount a campaign against commercial cyclists plying major roads, adding that people should also endeavour to travel in vehicles on major roads, instead of using motorcycles.

He added: “However, the poverty pervading the land is not helping matters, so also is the impatience on the part of passengers who believe that 'okada’ (commercial motorcycle) is a faster means of transportation but look at the current scenario."